


Tissue Paper

by AponiTiva



Category: The Librarians (TV 2014)
Genre: Background Character Death, F/M, Gen, Grief/Mourning
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-28
Updated: 2015-01-28
Packaged: 2018-03-09 10:49:17
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,423
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3246881
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AponiTiva/pseuds/AponiTiva
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jenkins had said they went through Librarians like tissue paper but Eve had brought home soldiers before, how different could it be?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Tissue Paper

Jenkins had said they went through Librarians like tissue paper but Eve had been proud to say that during her time as Guardian she had only had to bring home one and even then she could barely stand losing another friend.

“It was suppose to be me, he can’t be dead it was suppose to be me.” Eve couldn’t even face Cassandra instead letting Ezekiel hold the crying woman her body shaking as she sobbed. None of them had seen it coming; mostly because in this job you expected to lose the people you loved when you were working, not to someone driving home after too many drinks. Not to them running through a red light on a Saturday night and taking out a librarian’s truck.

“Jenkins… where is Flynn?” She had seen soldiers sent home, mothers, fathers, wives breaking down crying and screaming. Nothing had prepared her to tell Cassandra that Jake was dead and now all she wanted was her Librarian and take in the selfish comfort that Cassandra couldn’t of knowing the person she loved was alive.

Being pointed back to the stacks the woman found him in piles upon piles of books muttering and reciting what most likely were incantations. “Flynn, you need to stop this we need to call his family.”

Eve knew the desperate look in his eyes though as he shook his head. “I can fix this, I have to fix this. Look at Cassandra, she is destroyed and and..” Placing a hand on his shoulder she sighed.

“I know Flynn, but what kind of life would he have? His skull was crushed, his spine… It wouldn’t be a life. We need to call his family, arrange to take his body, and I don’t even know if they know about him and Cassandra.” Glancing back she saw that Jones had her in an armchair, Jake’s chair, and she looked so small in it, so broken if they didn’t know yet they would as soon as they saw her.

“They know, they had, to everyone did. But Eve what use is the library if we can’t save one of our own?” Wrapping her arms around him she rested her head on his shoulder glad to be breathing him in and not where Cassandra was right now. “I know Flynn, I know. It is hard to lose a solider, and even harder to lose a friend.”

Holding him for a few minutes she sighed pulling away, “I will call the Stone’s if you and Jenkins will arrange the door to take him back.” The small nod she received in turn made her heart break even more. Her Librarian was hurting, and she couldn’t fix it.

It could have been any of them; she could be calling Flynn’s mother, or Cassandra’s parents or the old man that Ezekiel had called his great uncle. How was a Guardian supposed to deal with this? To stare death in the face every mission yet let it take one of her Librarians in a mundane trip home? Eve knew that even with all of the Librarians’ brains they wouldn’t have the answer for her either.

 

* * *

 

They ended up flying his body to Oklahoma, the four of them sitting quietly only Cassandra’s hiccups and Flynn’s reassuring words trying to keep her out of one of her spells.  Over five thousand digits of pi before they landed ending on six, six was orange, and she started crying all over again as they got off the plane. Eve could see that even Flynn was starting to wish it had been any other number; no one could take the muffled sobs as they met Jake’s oldest brother.

“Thank you for having all of us here, I know it is a rough time.” The woman in the kitchen waved it off pizza boxes lining the countertops of the kitchen along with piles of food. Eve had given up trying to help after she had told her that she was a guest swatting at her hand like she was one of her children.

“It isn’t any trouble, you are Jake’s friend and Cassandra needs you here. Poor girl, I know she is taking it hard.” Ever nodded understanding, the redheaded librarian hadn't come out of Jake’s room her sobs barely registering through the door.

“We all wish we could actually help, but I think this is something she will have to face on her own.” Looking at the plate in front of her Eve thought about what she had said when first finding out. ‘It should have been me.’ “I don’t think she ever considered that she would live past him and this is just” Sighing the woman tried to find the right words again giving up “A shock, just a sudden shock of your life ripping apart. A before and an after.”

“Death is always a shock, did Jake ever tell you about our youngest? She died when Jake was ten, no warning. It hurt everyone, but his dad took it the hardest former solider and all… it just hurts more when it was someone you love.”  Eve could see the tears prickling her eyes and tried offering her a small smile before leaving. She needed Flynn.

“I need you to retire. I can’t – I can’t sit there and call your mom like I did Jake’s. I just can’t bring any more of them home, least of all you.” It was honest and truthful and raw as she lay against him the night before the funeral. She hated to do it, hated to make him choose between the Library and her but Eve had seen hundreds of widows fall to their knees asking why they had died. After bringing home her soldiers she had broken after just one Librarian because it was different, she couldn't just hand them a flag and walk away.

The silence stretched on long enough that she though he had fallen asleep before the man pressed a kiss to her temple. “Okay, we can talk about it once we get done here. Once we know that Cassandra is okay.” She knew that the woman was never going to be okay again but didn’t argue instead letting his arm wrap around her tighter before sleep finally claimed them both.

 

* * *

 

She never thought she would return to Oklahoma after she retired from the library. Flynn and Eve had settled into his apartment in New York, he had gotten a teaching job and she had gone back to working counterterrorism. Jenkins would still call at times to get Flynn’s opinion on something but otherwise they did their best to forget the library and the two remaining librarians. No more saving the world twice before Friday for them, and she could almost pretend like she didn't hear Jake in the back of her mind every time she saw a piece of art, living or otherwise. But nothing could last forever as the Library called them back on a dreary Tuesday night, and Eve yet again was standing in small town Oklahoma near a tree this time looking at two stones instead of one. Cassandra had passed quietly in her sleep, and she had to believe that it hadn't hurt. That she was finally home and at peace.

Eve had lost soldiers before, but none of them stung as much as looking at Flynn hunched over in front of these two stones or Ezekiel's half attempt at jokes. She had lost soldiers and friends before, but these were neither these had been her and Flynn's little Librarians in Training. Their little LiTs were now down to one guardian less thief, and it was killing her Librarian. She knew what she had to do and she would do it for him, because she loved him. While the Library may go through them like tissue paper she wasn't giving up her Librarian to the sorrow inside of him of not being able to save them both.

"Lets go home Librarians, lets go home." It was a sacrifice she was willing to make to keep him whole like he had kept her for these last four years, because one day they would be carrying the other home and crying on Jenkins shoulder no matter how much she was afraid of it because he was the Librarian and she was his Guardian and they would die to save each other and their little LiT. 

 

        Jacob I. Stone                Cassandra C. Cillian

1985 – 2016                    1989 – 2020

         For he loved death         And she loved him back

**Author's Note:**

> This seemed more reflective on Eve and her relationship with Flynn than it did of Jake and Cassandra. She has lost a lot of people, and so had Flynn, but to them it is different now that it isn't just someone.This had the four classic ways people deal with death. The Strong Faced Grievers, The Earth shakers, The I am glad it wasn't me, and I wish I could have done something.


End file.
